Galician

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A language of Spain

ISO 639-3
glg
Alternate Names
Gallego
Autonym
Galego
User Population

2,320,000 in Spain (European Commission 2012). Total users in all countries: 3,127,900.

Location

Castille and Leon autonomous community: western Leon and Zamora provinces; western Asturias and Galicia autonomous communities.

Language Maps
Language Status

2 (Provincial). Statutory provincial language in Galicia Autonomous Community (1981, Autonomy Statute, Act 1 of 6 April, Article 5).

Classification
Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Portuguese-Galician
Dialects

Galician is reportedly between Portuguese [por] and Spanish [spa], but is more similar to Portuguese, which has about 85% intelligibility (1989 R. Hall). Many dialects.

Language Use

Also use Spanish [spa].

Language Development

Academy of the Galician Language. Decades of development as literary language, including poetry and essays for all levels of education. Taught in primary and secondary schools in Galician-speaking areas. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1989–1992.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Galician
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Growing sense of ethnic identity.

Also spoken in:

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